Nail Houses And The Stay-Down City

In the most recent issue of Monu Magazine, Human Wu — who coincidentally might have the coolest name in history — writes about the phenomenon of nail houses in China. A nail house is a Chinese term that relates to any building where an owner stubbornly refuses to vacate his or her property in the face of a large development that is proposed to occur in its place. In the case that the developer can not buy the owner out or coerce them through other means to leave, the development usually gets carried forward, with design alterations to work around the building. If this occurs, the building has official become a ‘nail house’, and a whole slew of these charmingly absurd buildings can be found throughout China and elsewhere.

The title image was blogged about heavily in 2007 when a large-scaled redevelopment in an inner city neighbourhood of Chongqing encountered a nail house contender in Wu Ping and her husband Yang Wu. The image speaks to a double-barrelled determination. A determination on the part of the homeowners to stay put, and a determination of the developers to go forward with the development, regardless of the very inconveniently placed nail house.

The Pop-Up City and other blogs take great care in documenting ephemeral and fleeting happenings of a city — modular systems, flexible spaces, mobile infrastructures etc. — and this is not without merit, but how many blogs take interest in the exact opposite — the Stay-Down City, dinosaurs of another era that resist the tumultuous changes of the modern era without resorting to the common strategy of museumification, disneyfication, or any other sort of kitsch. If any such blog devoted to the Stay-Down City exists that you know of, please share the information in the comment space. Otherwise, consider this a call to arms for such a blog.

Hangzhou is a core city on the Yangtze River Delta renown for its local natural beauty. The city also plays an important economic role being positioned on the southern end of China’s Grand Canal, which spans over 1,700 km to Beijing in the north. This canal has been significant to the region’s economic development for over a millennium. Spatially, the canal is Hangzhou’s primary defining feature.

Poised for unprecedented growth and rising prominence, Hangzhou looked to its Grand Canal to help strengthen the city’s identity and enhance its public spaces. Designer Roger Narboni was brought on board and, in 2009, almost ten kilometres of the Grand Canal was lit up in resplendent color.

DIY: still all the rage. Last year, we wrote about DIY land remediation (seriously!), which, at the time, seemed to be an urban intervention that seemed about as antithetical to spontaneous DIY ethics as you could possibly get. Now, thanks to internationally-renowned Dutch architecture firm MVRDV, we can add urban planning to that list of…

Adidas has rolled out a new urban marketing campaign in several metro stations in Shanghai. The German sports brand started what they call “the first campaign in history you can kick”. Bags, supplied by Adidas, are installed in the metro stations. Passers-by can use them when they’re annoyed by other travelers, their work, public transport…